missing turkey v2- topkapi palace

i'm not really into the marbled classical look.
but i wouldn't mind a toilet like this one.

hmmm...i must think creatively how i can include this sorta bathroom in my tiny 87sq/m flat. Maybe the flat will just be a giant toilet with a bedroom in the bomb shelter?

how's that for creativity?

maybe i can apply for some PS21 grant to pilot it. better yet, it could be a joint inter-agency project. me. hdb and PS21 office. with all three parties working together it will surely be a safe-fail project.

amacam?

meow meows...everywhere!

the cats were beautiful. often i found them guarding the gates to a mosque or a church. hanging around watching us go by as if studying us visitors...

i like!

*purrrr*

my favourite site in Istanbul

if you were to return to Istanbul again and was given an option of visiting only one place, it would definitely be the Hagia Sofia.

The Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia which stands atop the first hill of Constantinople  at the thip of the historic peninsula surrounded by the waters of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn on three sides. It was built by Junstinan I between 532 and 537 and is located in close prosimity to the Great Palace of the Emperors, the Hippodrome and the Church of Hagia Irene. It was converted into the Aya Sophia mosque when the Ottomons ruled. The hid all signs of the churches existence by covering over the beautiful mosaics which chronicled it's Christian history. It's now been secularised and both Christian and Islam symbols coexist most beautifully together.

I read in a guidebook after my visit to the Hagia Sophia that when you first step inside, the splendour and beauty of the place often stops people in its tracks and takes their breadth away. That was exactly what happened for me, but it's power was so immense that it also moved me to tears.

I felt so unbelievably blessed that I had the opportunity to be in the midst of such history and of the beauty of 2 faiths that are so closely linked to my being.

hubbie kena CON lah!

my hubby is such a softie. walking past the Istanbul university we came across a square filled with pigeons.

while i thought the birds were horrible vectors of disease, my hubby was thoroughly amused.

while i ignored the lady with the birdseeds, he took a couple of handful of seeds from her and happily started feeding the birds while i clicked away on our camera.

when the feeding frenzy ended. the lady customarily asked him for some money. he looked at me and i shrugged thinking to myself, 'you got yourself into this one all on your own luv, you get yourself out of it yourself too'.

he fished out 2 turkish lira (about SGD 1.60).

she was not impressed. at this point i would have just walked away from her. i mean, come on? how much could bird seed cost.

but noooooo....my softie hubby...fished out his smallest note (seeing that he had run out of coins) and gaver her another 5 turkish lira.

and that is the story of how my hubby kena CON by this lady out of 7 turkish lira! Oits that's like a whole doner kebab, a drink plus a turkish tea to wrap up the meal gone in place of birdseeds ok!!!!

*groan*

sultanahmet- our first glance

the first-time, it took our breadth away. we kept returning  back to the sultanahmet mosque or better known as the blue mosque, again and again just because it was so beautiful. i cannot describe to you the feeling of strolling in the square at dusk, and hearing the melodious adhans calling the faithful to prayer.

brekkie with hubby

i was soo pleased that hubby woke up early his first morning in Istanbul. he was obviously still quite jet-lagged and i was so intent on having a good full day of sight-seeing before catching our flight to kayseri, cappadocia in the evening.

we were both starved so we hopped out to the nearby kebab shop where i had gorgeous grilled cheese toast and he had an islahak (i think) burger. actually he had 2 of them! lol.

he loved the burger (the turkish version of the ramli burger) that we went back for one more to tahpow for the airport after our sight-seeing!

lol. YUMZ!

vitamins- old skool

have you had your daily dose of vitamins today?

tell me, did it come in tablet form?

well, when in turkey do like the turks.

ditch the vitamin tablets and go for the real thing.

a cup of pomegranate juice maybe with a dash of orange?

the cobbled alleys..

my feet did a lot of work in Istanbul. we walked and walked and walked everywhere. most of the time down the lovely cobbled streets. first in taksim, beyoglu and of course the divine sultanahmet area.

i particularly enjoyed our walks down istiklal caddesi towards beyoglu, a seedy area that has now turned into a really hip area with many art galleries and local designer wear galleries.

we took a turn into one of these alleys, just wandering about exploring where the little streets would take us. with the lovely cool weather, i was in seventh heaven. we even stumbled on a quaint little church hidden among the brambles.

sigh...

the sweets on istiklal caddesi

after a gruelling 7 hour flight from singapore to dubai followed by 4.5 hours from Dubai to Istanbul with a 2hr layover. i found myself 5 hours behind singapore time, driving by the Sea of Marmara towards our hotel at Taksim Square.

it wasn't until a whole day later, after another 8 gruelling hours in a conference room that i got to explore Istiklal caddesi, just down the road from our hotel.  Taksim Square is really the new more modern part of Istanbul and Istiklal caddesi is the Orchard Road of Singapore.

It was packed with people thronging the stores that lined the caddessi. It was overwhelming but so much fun, with an old tram that went by it towards the Beyoglu area.

Oh but what took my breadth away was the gorgeous Turkish sweets stores salivating at the most decadent looking sweets ever!

YUMZ!!!!

it's spring

i love spring. it's an especially beautiful spring in Istanbul this year!